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I'm not sure what to think about this anime. The animation was nicely done, but the first episode didn't stand out much for me. Ohana and Minko appears to be roommates but Minko doesn't like Ohana. I'm guessing their relationship gets better as seen in the ending. Both of those girls got slapped pretty hard lol.I just don't know how good this anime will be.

Partially true, but hitting the employee thing is more of a culture thing imo, it could even be that she is the girl's guardian, since she is also living at the inn.
Remember, a minor in Japan is <14, so they technically aren't minors.

Employee not slave. You are also confusing the age of majority with the age of consent. The age of majority in Japan is 20. The age of consent minimum is 13, higher in some prefectures.

That said, your taking modern society standards and applying to them to someone who is clearly a very traditional old lady. Her idea of discipline is very different from modern worth ethic.

I see her like a Nun in a Catholic School, who disciplined students by smacking their hands with rulers to punish them, or even a parent who spanks their children for being bad (who can get sued for child abuse these days). Heck, the military operated under a similar principle, but once again, modern standards throw a negative light on this.

If my grandmother slapped me for almost injuring a customer at her business while doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing I wouldn't see that as abuse. I'd probably be pissed initially, but I see the logic behind the punishment.

As I have seen mentioned elsewhere, this is very much a cultural difference at play. To someone familiar with traditional Asian values, that scene would be far from extreme.

If the characters and drama remain even half as good as the show looks, we have a huge winner on our hands.

If you told me last year that by April I'd have placed two (along with Hourou Musuko) slice-of-life shows on my "must watch" list, I'd have told you that you had the wrong number.

I'm looking forward to seeing the school setting. I expect Ohana is in for at least another episode or two of culture shock before things really get rolling.

Also, while I hope that Ko returns, I kinda hope we don't see or hear from him for a while. It would seem that the prudent recipe would be to season with drama to taste, and let simmer for 7-14 episodes.

...As I have seen mentioned elsewhere, this is very much a cultural difference at play. To someone familiar with traditional Asian values, that scene would be far from extreme.

I'm quite familiar with traditional Asian values, and I approve of certain of them (education, work, respect, etc.). But this particular "value" is dead wrong: vicious, dangerous, and counter-productive. Now, in context, I can accept it as part of the drama, so I don't hate Grandma. But to accept it as normative is something I will not do.

In fact, this is an example of something that strikes me again and again. Many customs we call "Asian" were perfectly normal in the West not so long ago. A hundred years ago -- even fifty years ago -- it was perfectly acceptable in the West as well to strike children. It was supposedly a sign of love here, too, lol. This is one case where the old-fashioned Eastern way is not better, just archaic and inhuman, like most things in the past.

There is of course such a thing as "too much" but I really didn't consider that to be the case here. If she had beaten her, or slapped her just because she felt like it, then I'd see that as abuse.

The opposite is also true in modern society, some people get off far too lightly for things that they probably SHOULD be smacked for. Just because it is bad when taken to an extreme doesn't mean the opposite is ideal either.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the Grand Mother isn't being a complete bitch, nor that Ohana is being a spastic air head. Her treatment is rather harsh, but I personally wouldn't qualify it as abusive. And if anything, all you can really peg Ohana on is being a naive person whose found themselves in a totally new environment. And it's pretty clear the Grandmother has some feelings for her Grand daughter, and that Ohana is willing to not shirk off when she feels like she made someone else get in trouble for her own screw up.

If there was anyone I came away disliking it was Minko. I can understand a degree of irritation with Ohana's initial behavior and blunders , but her actions really ultimately felt more immature. You get the feeling she's under allot of pressure at the inn, and copes by letting it all out on someone she feels is lower on the pecking order than she is.

As a man who used to worked at an Asian restaurant that still uses Asian work ethics, here's my opinion on this issue:

The grandmother was being harsh but then again, it's kinda hard to deal with a girl who's mother is disowned by her grandmother, and is also her boss. I can understand that.

The mother did a horrible thing by sending her own daughter to work at an inn which is owned by her grandmother who disowns her own daughter. What kind of mom would do that? "My mom hates me, so i'm gonna send my daughter to work with my mom, eventhough she disowns me"

Another problem with the grandma is that she believes that "customer always comes first" or "the customer is always right". Now, this is the reason why i hate working in most Asian businesses. I used to work at several European companies and they have this policy of "If you treat us right, we'll treat you right" which benefits employees and customers alot. If you're gonna abuse your employees more just for the sake of the customer, then you're create a worse employees who can't even smile at a customer because of the pain she gets from the slappings.

And besides, the customers at the inn were actually cool with Ohana's error, so why should you punish her and Minko more? I know it's Japan, but again a few times of Gomenasais and a "Oh, it's cool" response by the customers does not equal three times of slaps.

The Customer comes first is pretty standard business ethic actually. Almost all business classes I have taken state as much. Although I can certainly understand how people in the service industry would love to (and do) treat bad customers badly.

Were the grandmother is wrong (and were the granddaughter is right) is that the employee doesn't come last in this process. Your employees are almost as vital as your customers, especially in the service industry.

The Customer comes first is pretty standard business ethic actually. Almost all business classes I have taken state as much. Although I can certainly understand how people in the service industry would love to (and do) treat bad customers badly.

You're right, it is a standard. But "Customer is always right" only works in a fair environment where the employee is on the same level as the customer, or when the customer respect the employee. Just like what you've said Fenrir: The employee must not come last.

Herb Kelleher [...] makes it clear that his employees come first — even if it means dismissing customers. But aren’t customers always right? “No, they are not,” Kelleher snaps. “And I think that’s one of the biggest betrayals of employees a boss can possibly commit. The customer is sometimes wrong. We don’t carry those sorts of customers. We write to them and say, ‘Fly somebody else. Don’t abuse our people.’”

If you still think that the customer is always right, read this story from Bethune’s book “From Worst to First”:

Quote:

A Continental flight attendant once was offended by a passenger’s child wearing a hat with Nazi and KKK emblems on it. It was pretty offensive stuff, so the attendant went to the kid’s father and asked him to put away the hat. “No,” the guy said. “My kid can wear what he wants, and I don’t care who likes it.”

The flight attendant went into the cockpit and got the first officer, who explained to the passenger the FAA regulation that makes it a crime to interfere with the duties of a crew member. The hat was causing other passengers and the crew discomfort, and that interfered with the flight attendant’s duties. The guy better put away the hat.

He did, but he didn’t like it. He wrote many nasty letters. We made every effort to explain our policy and the federal air regulations, but he wasn’t hearing it. He even showed up in our executive suite to discuss the matter with me. I let him sit out there. I didn’t want to see him and I didn’t want to listen to him. He bought a ticket on our airplane, and that means we’ll take him where he wants to go. But if he’s going to be rude and offensive, he’s welcome to fly another airline.

The fact is that some customers are just plain wrong, that businesses are better of without them, and that managers siding with unreasonable customers over employees is a very bad idea, that results in worse customer service.